It’s that time of year when people dig through dusty red plastic totes stored away all year in a desperate attempt to find that horrid sweater that’s traditionally worn to the company Christmas party. Feel free to burn that thing when you find it because this year you can celebrate the season in a squatchier manner by donning your new Squatchmas sweater.

No Squatchmas sweater is likely to be viewed as “ugly” because of the obvious fashion sense it takes to wear one. In my opinion, anyone who criticizes, laughs at, or poo-poos the sweaters here is simply waging a war on Squatchmas for skeptically-based reasons. They look great, and bigfoots are cool, thereby making you cool when you wear one of these.

I’ve combed through the catalog and found only a small handful of true sweaters. Most of the Squatchmas stuff out there is printed on tee-shirts, which is also cool, but not a true sweater. Below you’ll mostly see true sweaters with only one exception at the end (the sweatshirt was particularly awesome and holiday-obnoxious). If you’re looking for a Squatchmas tee shirt instead of a sweater, try this one of my own design.

Click on the photos below for more information.

Disclaimer: This page was made possible by a partnership from Amazon Associates who grants me a small commission on what you buy through the links. But, all opinions and reviews are my own, and these products wouldn’t be featured if I didn’t think it could help you be a cooler bigfooter.

Tickets go on sale today for my appearance at Expedition Bigfoot in Georgia. The good folks at the museum have given my fans a couple days head start to buy tickets before they announce it to their locals who will certainly buy all remaining tickets to sell out the event (seating is very limited).

I will be giving one talk on Friday and another on Saturday. Each talk will be two hours in length from 6 pm to 8pm, so we are asking that young children be left at home (their attention spans are even shorter than my own). I will also be in attendance for a meet and greet at the museum from noon to 4 pm. That’s the one to bring your toddlers to for photos with me or the exhibits at the museum.

No understanding of sasquatches can be complete without some knowledge of paleoanthropology. After all, sasquatches had to come from somewhere, and paleoanthropology is the science that shows us what sorts of cousins we had that came before us. Bigfoots would be descended from one of those cousins. It is with that in mind that I eagerly devour pertinent articles on human ancestors in hopes to shed light on bigfoots and where they came from.

One of the leading figures in paleoanthropology was Mary Leakey, wife of Louis Leakey, was the discoverer of many hominin fossils in eastern Africa. She was meticulous, innovative, and dedicated.

The following is a beautifully animated short briefly describing part of Mary Leakey’s life, particularly her discovery of the Laetoli Footprints. Enjoy!

Trail CamerasComments Off on Guest Post on Wildlife Viewing with Trail Cameras

Nov072017

3 Awesome Reasons Wildlife Monitoring Rocks

Searching for wildlife might sound boring, but it’s far from it. Wildlife viewing, or the act of spotting wild animals in their natural environments, can be the thrill of a lifetime! When combined with its other incredible benefits, it becomes clear that there’s no better way to spend a weekend.

What is Wildlife Viewing?

Also known as wildlife watching or monitoring, viewing can include using remote trail cameras in places national agencies don’t have the resources to get to, or it can include physically looking for wildlife, such as rare birds or even larger animals like bears. Wildlife monitoring can be done formally in a citizen-scientist collaboration, or it can be done on public or private land just for fun. You can even join the legions of people searching for legendary creatures like a sasquatch!

Here are three reasons we think wildlife viewing rocks:

Wildlife Viewing Helps With Conservation Efforts

You might be tempted to think we know all there is to know about our world, but that’s far from true. Even tracts of land in the United States have new secrets to reveal; in fact, since 2003 more than 400 new mammal species have been discovered worldwide.

Amateur conservations help local land management and parks services make important decisions about caring for local wildlife. Discoveries about things like the presence of rare carnivores guides regional conservation programs and priorities.

The viewing of wildlife also helps develop in adults and children a passion for conserving the land, vital for the continued protection of over 600 million acres of nationally-owned wilderness in the United States alone. Wildland protects its natural animal habitats and is ecologically vital for clean air and water, and also acts as a natural laboratory.

Physical Activity is Healthy For You

Wildlife viewing involves, at a minimum, trail walking. The best monitoring, however, is achieved via hiking or even camping in remote areas. Kids and adults alike benefit greatly from routine physical activity. Here are just a few of the benefits:

Lower risk of heart disease in adults

Greater bone strength in children

Healthy weight management for both kids and adults

Reduced depression and better quality of sleep

Fun For All Ages

Children are naturally excellent at wildlife viewing. Not only are their young eyes sharp, but they’re naturally curious. They’re often usually lower to the ground, with gives them the advantage of a different perspective and less stooping to identify tracks and other signs of animals.

Learning together and hiking in the wilderness is an activity people of all ages can take part in, and a great way to bond together. Your kids won’t even realize they’re learning and might just forget to ask for their electronic devices! Many adults have fond memories of camping and outdoor trips as children, and your kids can have that same experience.

Whether you’re motivated by the rush of seeing an animal in its natural habit, or you want to take part of conservation activities, or you want to find a hobby you can enjoy with your family, wildlife viewing is great fun!

This guest post was supplied by Sally Phillips who enjoys teaching her daughters about the wildlife around them with her husband. Thank you for your contribution!

This was the first book I read from Ian Tattersall, and I was impressed with his knowledge base and how it applied to the study of sasquatches. It was this book that planted the seed in me that sasquatches might be a relict form of Australopithicus, though obviously this is far from certain. It was also this book that brought up some very interesting questions about what it means to be “human.”

There is a very vocal segment of the bigfoot community that asserts that sasquatches are humans, or at least people. The problem with that assertion is that very few of its advocates have a good idea of what that even means. This book, though not about bigfoots, addresses what it means to be “human” in the context of paleoanthropology, a subject that any serious bigfoot researcher should explore. Folks who advocate for sasquatches being “human” should read this book to either strengthen or abandon their assertions (I can see how it could do either, depending on one’s worldview).

Ian Tattersall and an extinct friend.

Tattersall’s conclusion is that the most defining “human” trait might be our ability to think symbolically. Throughout the book, Tattersall details unique paleoanthropological finds and looks at them under the lens of “symbolic thought” to see if the hominins in question rise to the level of “human” in this regard. The reader might be surprised at his findings, as I was.

Along the way, Tattersall explains the current best-guesses on the lifestyles and behaviors of our extinct relatives. Of particular interest are his speculations (based on solid data, not mere guesses) on how Australopithicines survived and prospered. These simple apemen seem to be a good model for sasquatch ancestory, both in morphology and behavior.

I encourage all bigfooters to dig deeply into the science of paleoanthropology. It not only gives insight into what sasquatches are and where they might have come from, but it does the same for ourselves. We are, after all, one big, slightly-disfunctional primate family.

To obtain a copy of this book, click on the photo of the book at the top of the page.

Disclaimer: This page was made possible by a partnership from Amazon Associates who grants me a small commission on what you buy through the links. But, all opinions and reviews are my own, and these products wouldn’t be featured if I didn’t think it could help you be a better bigfooter.

For those interested in unknown primates, the subject of paleoanthropology should be a subject of great interest. After all, sasquatches came from some lineage in the paleoanthropological family tree, so the more we learn about our ancient ancestory, the more we learn about sasquatches and the other undiscovered hominoids. It is with this focus that I eagerly devoured Tattersall’s 2015 book, The Strange Case of the Rickety Cossack: and Other Cautionary Tales from Human Evolution.

The book’s author, Ian Tattersall, is the Curator Emeritus in the Division of Anthropology of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. Though he started his schooling specializing in lemurs, his life’s journey has twisted and turned enough to find himself in a prominent and influential position well-earned through experience and publication.

The book is a chronological tale of the history of paleoanthropology, its major players, and their specific discoveries from Aristotle and the other Greek anatomists through to the most active players in the field in 2015. Significantly, this includes the discovery of Homo floresiensis, though much more work has been done on those fossil hominins since the publication of the book. Credit must be given to Tattersall for his acknowledgment that these Floresian “Hobbits” were strangely archaic in morphology, and begging for a closer look, even back when he was writing the book.

I found the book’s story to be a fascinating one, and hugely pertinent to sasquatch studies. Since sasquatches are real animals, they, like humans, have ancestors represented in the fossil record. Much can be learned about sasquatches simply by studying those bipedal hominins that came before them (and the same can be said about humans, which is why paleoanthropology is such an important and interesting science).

Much of the book shows how some stubborn ideas became ingrained into the scientific paradigms of the day. One such idea repeatedly mentioned in the book is the “One Species Hypothesis,” which in paleoanthropology means that there can only be one “human-type” animal existing in an area at a time. The newer type would move in and drive the previous, more archaic species to extinction. For example, it was thought for decades that neanderthals were the direct predecessor to modern humans, and that when we came on the scene, we made the neanderthals go extinct. We now know this is not exactly true (though our arrival may have played a role in driving them to extinction), and that neanderthals were a distinct side branch on the evolutionary tree rather than our predecessor, but this example does illustrate the ill-fated idea of the “One Species Hypothesis.”

Tattersall shows how the Single Species Hypothesis is no longer thought to be true, so he notes that numerous species of pre-human hominins lived concurrently on the planet, and indeed in the same areas at the same time. Curiously, he states unequivocally, more than once in the book that humans are the only hominin left alive on the planet. I guess I can’t blame him, but he is sure in for a surprise!

For anyone interested in the sasquatch subject who loves the science behind mystery, I fully recommend this book. The overview of paleoanthropology is succinct and enlightening. The scientific language is digestible, not putting too many of the terms far above the head of the reader. Tattersall’s writing style is fully accessible to most scientifically-literate readers and laymen alike.

To purchase this book, click this link, or on the picture of the book cover above.

Disclaimer: This page was made possible by a partnership from Amazon Associates who grants me a small commission on what you buy through the links. But, all opinions and reviews are my own, and these products wouldn’t be featured if I didn’t think it could help you be a better bigfooter.

Its trouble in paradise when a park ranger informs Sasquatch that his au-naturel style will no longer be tolerated. What follows is a charming, humorous game of dress-up as Sasquatch and the ranger struggle to come up with a wardrobe fit for the monsters active lifestyle. With warm illustrations, funny rhymes, and a silly final twist that praises acceptance, Get Dressed, Sasquatch! will have children and parents giggling together again and again.

Hazy Dell publishing house has other books with squatchy references, such as Monster ABC, which I’ve posted photos from before on my Facebook page. These books are fantastic for very young readers, up to about age 8. They are made with thick cardboard-like pages that can take a beating, dropping, or a drooling on by the most ravenous of readers.

Disclaimer: This page was made possible by a partnership from Amazon Associates who grants me a small commission on what you buy through the links. But, all opinions and reviews are my own, and these products wouldn’t be featured if I didn’t think it could help you be a better bigfooter.

The Blueberry Bog is one of the best bigfooting locations I have yet found in Mount Hood National Forest. Between a small number of researchers and me, a dozen or more sasquatch encounters have occurred here. Most have come in the form of knocks, but there also have been camp visitations, whoops, long calls, and gifting interactions reported from these researchers. No sightings have yet occurred, but there are also no reports from here in any of the online databases nor from any book I have ever read. It’s a good spot.

I visited this location back in June on a day trip. The mosquitoes were beyond bad. It is nearly impossible to be in the area until some drying happens in the forest and the mosquitoes decrease in numbers dramatically. One of the researchers in my inner circle has been in the area a couple times this summer scouting for hunting season. Elk and deer sign was abundant. Sign of very large canines was also identified. The possibility of wolves exists, and would be very interesting to verify with a visual sighting. That would be newsworthy, I suspect.

My schedule freed up enough for my wife and I to make a quick overnight to the Blueberry Bog this past week. It’s a beautiful area with abundant wildlife and a stunning view of Mount Hood, so no matter if the bigfoots were there or not, I knew it would be a great trip. However, at least one bigfoot was there.

Long after dark and shortly after midnight, the wood ducks in the nearby bog were restless. They vocalized and moved around the swamp in an agitated way. An unidentified vocalization came from north at 12:37 am. The whistle you hear is accompanied by another sound behind it. If you think you know what made this noise, please contact me and share your idea with me. It would be best to include a reference recording from online with your suggestion for verification purposes.

Just before one o’clock, we heard a knock coming from north of camp. In years past, a knock from this area is often the first sign of a sasquatch being in the area, and usually right around this time of night. Sure enough, twenty minutes later, a loud knock occurred just a short distance east of camp.

Captivated, we listened intently for the next hour and heard nothing unusual except the continued distress of the local waterfowl. I was thrilled that the sasquatches seemed to be back on their old schedule (some logging in the past five years seemed to have disrupted the activity a bit). My wife was thrilled to hear a good, loud knock. We were both happy to share the experience.

The above recordings were obtained using a Zoom H6. For more information on audio recorders I’ve used for bigfooting, click here.

Springs, swamps, and the accompanying plant life permeate the area around the Blueberry Bog.

This is one of my favorite recent acquisitions of bigfoot/yeti merchandise. Yeti in My Spaghetti is a simple game for children of all ages based on the classic, Pick-Up-Sticks. I enjoyed a few rounds of the game (with an adult beverage in hand), so I’ve already play-tested this one for the younger ones in your family. Whether you purchase the game for your family or for your dorm room, it has the Cliff Stamp of Approval for entertainment.

The game comes with a bowl, some plastic spaghetti noodles, and an adorable yeti toy. It is played by laying the spaghetti noodles across the bowl and putting the yeti on top of the noodles. From there, the players take turns trying to remove individual strands of spaghetti without causing the yeti to fall into the bowl. Pretty simple, but surprisingly fun.

Don’t let the yeti fall into the bowl!

The game is durable and made of plastic, so it is easily brought to the woods on your family’s next bigfooting trip. It will clean off easily, and won’t break unless mistreated. The family that participates in bigfoot activities together is a healthy one, and this game can add to that quality time.

For you Pick-Up-Sticks masters out there, there is an added challenge to this newer, cooler version. In Yeti in My Spaghetti, the spaghetti strands are sort of twisted, so it’s not as easy to remove the noodles as straight sticks were back in the old days.

The point of this game is to have fun, and it delivers on this simple goal. Your family will love the game, and it’s a great way to eat up a hour or so while bonding as a family unit. Integrating bigfoot and/or yeti into your family activities will only bring you closer together.

Click on the links above to purchase.

Disclaimer: This page was made possible by a partnership from Amazon Associates who grants me a small commission on what you buy through the links. But, all opinions and reviews are my own, and these products wouldn’t be featured if I didn’t think it could help you be a better bigfooter.

A few years ago in a blog post, I commented on how the legal protection of wild land is hugely beneficial to sasquatches, and indeed advocating for such protections might be one of the only things we (the bigfoot community) can do at the moment to protect our hairy friends. I called the idea, “Conservation Before Discovery,” and it was largely the result of former President Obama making huge tracts of land into official wilderness areas, including the nearby Roaring River Wilderness. Whether you agree with the politics or not, it’s hard to argue that wild lands are good for bigfoot populations. Conservation of the land could provide sasquatches with a well-protected core area in which to rear offspring.

When the article below crossed my desk the other morning, I found the general idea of the article to be what I was writing about all those years ago. With this in mind, I thought I’d bring up the notion again in the context of the recent news piece.

How the search for mythical monsters can help conservation in the real world

July 31, 2017 by Bill Adams And Shane Mccorristine, The Conversation

After fears the Loch Ness Monster had “disappeared” last winter, a new sighting in May 2017 was celebrated by its enthusiasts. The search for monsters and mythical creatures (or “cryptids“) such as Nessie, the Yeti or Bigfoot is known as “cryptozoology”.

On the face of it, cryptozoology has little in common with mainstream conservation. First, it is widely held to be a “pseudoscience”, because it does not follow the scientific methods so central to conservation biology. Many conservation scientists would find the idea of being identified with monsters and monster-hunters embarrassing.

Moreover, in the context of the global collapse in biodiversity, conservationists focus their attentions on protecting the countless endangered species that we know about. Why waste time thinking about unknown or hypothesised creatures? Most people are rightly sceptical of sightings of anomalous primates or plesiosaurs in densely populated regions that have been surveyed for hundreds of years.

However, while there are strong ecological and evidence-based reasons to doubt the existence of charismatic cryptids such as Nessie and Bigfoot, conservationists should not automatically dismiss enthusiastic searches for “hidden” species. In fact, cryptozoology can contribute to conservation in several ways.